What led to Thursday’s Cabinet ousters

The resignations of the minister of state, Stavros Papastavrou, and the deputy minister to the prime minister, Yiannis Bratakos, last Thursday has been attributed to their attendance at the "wrong" social event.

The event turned out to be more than just social, as four days later it led to the ouster of two of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' closest associates.

According to people who know the two lawmakers, they always shared their plans with the prime minister. In this instance, however, given Mitsotakis' absence in Canada, it is speculated that they might have attended the contentious "social event" on their own accord in an effort to ease tensions between the government and the publishing group that had released the story about the altered audio between train officials on the evening of the February 28, 2023, rail tragedy in Tempe, Central Greece.

The...